1557

August 27: Battle of St. Quentin

Year 1557 (MDLVII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.

Events

The first known equation, equivalent to 14x+15=71 in modern syntax.

January–March

• January 4 – Pietro Giovanni Chiavica Cibo becomes the new Doge of the Republic of Genoa for a term of 2 years as the term of the Doge Agostino Pinelli Ardimenti comes to an end.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• January 6 – Italian War of 1551–1559: Gaspard II de Coligny, the French governor of Picardy (in northern France), launches surprise attacks on Douai and Lens in the Spanish Netherlands and captures both cities for France.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• January 13 – Sigismund II Augustus, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, issues an edict against Protestants, at the urging of the Archbishop Mikołaj Dzierzgowski, Primate of Poland.
• January 28 – Bayinnaung, King of Burma and head of the Toungoo dynasty, conquers two the Shan States, Möng Mit and Hsipaw in what is now northern Myanmar.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> The event is later commemorated with an inscription on the Shwezigon Pagoda Bell.<ref>U Thaw Kaung, Aspects of Myanmar History and Culture (Gangaw Myaing, 2010) pp.106-110</ref>

• February 4 – Pope Paul IV creates the metropolitan archdiocese of Portuguese India (based in Goa) separating the Goan diocese from the ecclesiastical province of Lisbon.
• February 24 – Delegates from Sweden, Finland and Russia arrive at Novgorod to negotiate a treaty to end the war between the two empires.<ref name=Heininen>Template:Cite book</ref>
• March 11 – The Burmese conquest of the Shan States continues as the capital of the Mongkawng state, Mong Kawng, falls to the Toungoo dynasty invaders, five days after the March 6 surrender of the town of Mong Yang. The event is later commemorated on the Shwezigon Pagoda Bell.
• March – The Takeda clan besiege Katsurayama Castle in eastern Japan.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The siege ends with the last stand of the castle garrison, and the complete destruction of Katsurayama, allowing the Takeda to further expand in Shinano Province.

April–June

• April 2 – The Treaty of Novgorod between Sweden and Russia is put into effect as delegates kiss the cross, as demanded by the Tsar Ivan IV.<ref name=Heininen/>
• April 12 – The Spanish settlement of Cuenca, Ecuador, is founded.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• April 25 – English aristocrat Thomas Stafford attempts a rebellion against Queen Mary, landing at Scarborough, North Yorkshire with two ships and 32 followers after crossing the English Channel from Dieppe in France. Upon landing, he captures Scarborough Castle and proclaims himself "Protector of the Realm".<ref name="odnb">Thomas Stafford, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, accessed 17 January 2010</ref>
• April 28 – Henry Neville, 5th Earl of Westmorland, arrives in Scarborough and ends the Stafford rebellion, arresting Stafford and the small rebel force.<ref name="odnb"/>
• April 30 – Arauco War – Battle of Mataquito: Spanish forces of Governor Francisco de Villagra launch a dawn surprise attack against the Mapuche (headed by their toqui Lautaro), in present-day Chile.
• May 4 – The Stationers' Company, officially the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, is granted a royal charter and a monopoly on the English publishing industry.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> For the next 150 years, the Stationers will regulate and censor the printing industry until the passage of the Copyright Act 1710 on April 10, 1710.
• May 23 – The Shwezigon Pagoda Bell, weighing Template:Convert, is dedicated. The Bell, commissioned by King Bayinnaung and located in the Myanmar city of Bagan, bears a detailed inscription of the 16th century Burmese conquest of the Shan States.
• May 28 – English rebel Thomas Stafford and 32 of his followers are beheaded at the Tower of London after being convicted of treason.<ref name="odnb"/>
• May 29 – King Philip II of Spain signs a treaty in London with Iacopo VI being restored to rule of the Principality of Piombino a bargain with Cosimo I de' Medici.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Tratado de Londres (1557)</ref>
• June 7 – Mary I of England joins her husband Philip II of Spain, in his war against France.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• June 10 – The New Testament of the Geneva Bible, a Protestant Bible translation into English (produced under the supervision of William Whittingham, and printed in Roman type), is published in Geneva.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• June 16 Sebastião I is crowned as the new King of Portugal, five days after the death of his father, King João III.
• June 18 – Mass executions by burning at the stake resume in England for Protestants convicted of heresy under the law of England's Catholic ruler, Queen Mary. On the first day, four women and three men are put to death at Maidstone at Kent. The next day, at Canterbury, another seven prisoners are burned. On June 22, ten more people (six men and four women) burn at the stake at Lewes at Sussex. In all, 24 people (12 men and 12 women) are killed in a five-day period<ref name=Foxe>"Foxe’s Marian Martyrs", by Thomas S. Freeman, JohnFoxe.org</ref>
• By June – The 1557 influenza pandemic, probably originating in China, spreads to Europe.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

July–September

• July 3 – The small Stato dei Presidi, a Template:Convert section of Spanish territory on the Tuscan coast of Italy, is created by a treaty between Cosimo I de' Medici (Duke of the Florentine Republic and the future Grand Duke of Tuscany) and King Felipe II of Spain. In return, Cosimo receives the rest of the former Republic of Siena.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• July 24 – The Edict of Compiègne is issued by King Henri II of France, providing for the death penalty to be applied to Protestants for a variety of crimes, including a relapse after having renounced Protestantism; unauthorized travel to Geneva; publication of Protestant books; possessing graven images; and unauthorized participation in Protestant religious gatherings, whether public or private.<ref>Robert Jean Knecht, The Rise and Fall of Renaissance France: 1483-1610 (Blackwell, 2001) p.241</ref>
• July 25 – In India, Sikandar Shah Suri, Sultan of the Sur Empire in Punjab, surrenders the fortress at Mau in the Nurpur kingdom (now in Uttar Pradesh) after a six month siege by the Mughal Empire. Mughal General Bairam Khan allows Sikandar to live in exile in Bihar, while Bakht Mal, Raja of Nurpur is imprisoned at Lahore and later beheaded.<ref>R. C. Majumdar, ed., The Mughul Empire (Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 2007) pp.106-107</ref>
• August 27 – Battle of St. Quentin: French forces under Marshal Anne de Montmorency are decisively defeated by the Spanish and English under Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, after a 17-day battle. Montmorency himself is captured, but Philip II refuses to press his advantage, and withdraws to the Netherlands.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• September 11– The Colloquy of Worms convenes in Germany as a dialog on religious issues between clerics of the German Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church.<ref name=Wormer>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

• September 12– The Spanish occupation of the Papal States is confirmed as Pope Paul IV signs a separate peace treaty, the Peace of Cave-Palestrina, with Spain's Duke of Alba, who has massed troops outside of Rome in preparationfor an attack.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

October–December

• October 8 – The Colloquy of Worms is adjourned with no resolution on reconciling the differences between Catholicism and Protestantism, after the parties are unable to agree on the concepts of original sin and theological justification.<ref name=Wormer/>
• October 23 – Mohammed al-Shaykh, Sultan of Morocco since 1549, is assassinated by Ottoman soldiers who had infiltrated the Moroccan army. The assassination comes on orders of the Ottoman sultan after Mohammed makes plans for an alliance with Spain against the Ottoman Empire.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Mohammed is succeeded by his son, Abdallah al-Ghalib.
• November 17 (27th day of the 10th month of Kōji 3) – Prince Michihito of Japan becomes the Emperor Ōgimachi almost two months after the September 27 death of his father, the Emperor Go-Nara.
• December 24 – In Bucharest, Mircea the Shepherd becomes the Prince of Wallachia for the third time, succeeding Pătrașcu the Good, who has died suddenly.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• December 30 – Italian War of 1551–1559: King Henri II of France, through his ambassador Jean Cavenac de la Vigne sends a letter to Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire for the dispatch of 150 Ottoman Navy ships to protect the French coast.<ref>Kenneth M. Setton, The Papacy and the Levant (1204–1571) (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1984), p. 698</ref>

Date unknown

• Özdemir Pasha conquers the Red Sea port of Massawa for the Ottoman Empire.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• With the permission of the Ming dynasty government of China, and for the benefit of both Western and Eastern merchants, the Portuguese settle in Macau (retroceded in 1999).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Direct Sino-Portuguese trade has existed since 1513, but this is the first official legal treaty port on traditional Chinese soil, that will form a long-term Western settlement.
• Spain becomes bankrupt, throwing the German banking houses into chaos.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, is refounded by John Caius.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• The following schools are founded in England:
  • Brentwood School, Essex, by Sir Antony Browne.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• • Hampton School, Hampton, London, by Robert Hammond.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Repton School, by Sir John Port.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Welsh-born mathematician Robert Recorde publishes The Whetstone of Witte in London, containing the first recorded use of the equals sign, and the first use in English of plus and minus signs.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• German adventurer Hans Staden publishes a widely translated account of his detention by the Tupí people of Brazil, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("True Story and Description of a Country of Wild, Naked, Grim, Man-eating People in the New World, America").<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Births

Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor

• January 1 – Stephen Bocskay, Prince of Transylvania (d. 1606)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• February 11 – Johannes Wtenbogaert, Leader of the Remonstrants (d. 1644)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• February 15
  • Alfonso Fontanelli, Italian composer (d. 1622)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Vittoria Accoramboni, Italian noblewoman (d. 1585)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• February 24 – Mathias, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1619)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• March 1 – Anne Howard, Countess of Arundel, English countess and poet (d. 1630)<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
• March 22 – Casimir VI, Duke of Pomerania and Lutheran Administrator of Cammin Prince-Bishopric (d. 1605)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• March 25 – Maddalena Aceiaiuoli, Tuscan noblewoman and poet (d. 1610)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• April 4 – Lew Sapieha, Polish-Lithuanian noble (d. 1633)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• April 11 – Frederick, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Vohenstrauss-Parkstein (d. 1597)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• May 5 – Emanuel Philibert de Lalaing, Belgian noble and army commander (d. 1590)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• May 31 – Tsar Feodor I of Russia (d. 1598)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• June 28 – Philip Howard, 20th Earl of Arundel, English nobleman (d. 1595)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• August 2 – At Colchester in England, 10 convicted Protestant heretics are burned at the stake.<ref name=Foxe/>
• August 16 – Agostino Carracci, Italian painter and graphical artist (d. 1602)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• August 19 – Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1608)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• August 26 – Sibylle of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, Duchess of Jülich-Cleves-Berg by birth and by marriage Margravine of Burgau (d. 1628)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• September 4 – Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, Danish-Norwegian royal consort (d. 1631)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• September 11 – Joseph Calasanz, Spanish priest and founder of Piarists (d. 1648)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• September 16 – Jacques Mauduit, French composer (d. 1627)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• October 5 – Antoine Favre, Savoisian lawyer, first President of the Sovereign Senate of Savoy (d. 1624)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• date unknown
  • Giovanni Croce, Italian composer (d. 1609)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Balthasar Gérard, assassin of William I of Orange (d. 1584)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Toda Katsushige, Japanese warlord (d. 1600)
  • Olaus Martini, Archbishop of Uppsala (d. 1609)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Thomas Morley, English composer (d. 1602)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Oda Nobutada, Japanese general (d. 1582)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• probable – Giovanni Gabrieli, Italian composer and organist (d. 1612)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Deaths

John III of Portugal

Jacques Cartier

Emperor Go-Nara of Japan

• January 2 – Pontormo, Italian painter (b. 1494)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• January 4 – Philip, Duke of Mecklenburg, (b. 1514)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• January 8 – Albert Alcibiades, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach ("Albert the Warlike"), Prince of Bayreuth (b. 1522)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• March 13 – Louis de Bourbon de Vendôme, French cardinal (b. 1493)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• April 9 – Mikael Agricola, Finnish scholar (b. c. 1510)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• April 24 – Georg Rörer, German theologian (b. 1492)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• April 29 – Lautaro, Mapuche warrior (b. 1534)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• May 18 – John II, Count Palatine of Simmern, Count Palatine of Simmern (1509-1557) (b. 1492)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• June 10 – Leandro Bassano, Italian painter (d. 1622)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• June 11 – King John III of Portugal (b. 1502)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• July 10 – Giovanni Battista Ramusio, Italian geographer (b. 1485)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• July 16 – Anne of Cleves, fourth queen of Henry VIII of England (b. 1515)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• August 1 – Olaus Magnus, Swedish ecclesiastic and writer (b. 1490)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• August 18 – Claude de la Sengle, 48th Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller (b. 1494)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• September 1 – Jacques Cartier, French explorer (b. 1491)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• September 13 – John Cheke, English classical scholar and statesman (b. 1514)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• September 15 – Juan Álvarez de Toledo, Spanish Catholic cardinal (b. 1488)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• September 27 – Emperor Go-Nara of Japan (b. 1495)
• October 5 or October 6 – Kamran Mirza, Mughal prince (b. 1509)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• October 20 – Jean Salmon Macrin, French poet (b. 1490)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• October 25 – William Cavendish, English courtier (b. 1505)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• November 19
  • Bona Sforza, queen of Sigismund I of Poland (b. 1494)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Maria de' Medici, Italian noble (b. 1540)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• December 6 – Elisabeth of Hesse, Hereditary Princess of Saxony (b. 1502)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• December 13 – Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia, Italian mathematician (b. 1499)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• December 27 – Queen Dangyeong, Korean royal consort (b. 1487)
• date unknown
  • Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, Spanish historian (b. 1478)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Charlotte Guillard, French printer<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts, French translator
  • Geoffrey Glyn, English lawyer<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• probable
  • Sebastian Cabot, Italian-born English explorer (b. 1476)<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
  • Thomas Crecquillon, Flemish composer (b. 1490)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>